SOS - Torture / Burundi n°36

SOS Torture / Burundi

In this SOS-Torture report scheduled 13th to 20th August 2016; we talk about arbitrary arrests that have continued to be committed in some areas. The most common from a certain time are raids conducted by the police almost daily in some targeted quarters of Bujumbura Capital City. These quarters, particularly Musaga, are considered by the government to be the protesters of the third term of the President of the Republic.

Raids were also organized in the Bujumbura capital city and in the city of Gitega province. At each roundup operation, at least a hundred of persons were arrested for some hours and then ransomed by the police before being released.

In addition to those raids, at least ninety-three (93) persons were arrested by the police and sometimes by the agents of the National Intelligence Service. Among them, (60) are jailed in Kayogoro Makamba province; ten (10) others were arrested in Nyanza Lac in the same province.

The report also comes to talk about human bodies found last week in Mubarazi River, Muramvya province. The administrative authorities have hastly buried those two victims without completed identification.
The Journalist Jean Bigirimana of Iwacu press group disappeared since almost a month after being kidnapped by no identified individual suspected to be agents of the National Intelligence Service. Another Journalist named Steve Gisa Irakoze was arrested by the police then after embarqued by the National Intelligence Service to Kajaga Quarter, Mutimbuzi commune, Bujumbura province.

The final point of the report refers to the very worrying situation of Burundian military including those of Tutsi ethnic minority. Four military officers studying in Ethiopia sought asylum with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) afraid to return and undergo physical treatment that are being suffered several officers and soldiers of the former Burundian Armed Forces (ex-FAB) and of Tutsi ethnic group.

The SOS-Torture Campaign / Burundi was initiated with the aim to inform national and international opinion on the ongoing serious violations of human rights in Burundi through monitoring reports including torture, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, sexual violence and summary executions. This initiative to inform on what is happening in the country was triggered by the slaughter of a hundred people killed between 11 and 12 December, 2015 by the police and military pretending to fight rebels who attacked military camps located on the peripheries of the capital city. The affected areas are said protesters of the third term of President Nkurunziza namely Musaga, Mutakura, Cibitoke, Nyakabiga, Jabe, the two last ones being located in Bujumbura downtown